Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych believes the work of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, should be stabilized, or otherwise it should be dissolved and early parliamentary elections called.
"I believe we should do all we can so that the parliament continues to work, ends this session and certainly starts a new session in September this year. This is the primary goal," the presidential press service quoted Yanukovych as saying at a meeting with the leadership of the parliament and the leaders of parliamentary factions on Wednesday.
The president noted, however, that, if the parliament's work is not stabilized, "we will have to switch to the procedure of early parliamentary elections."
"However, I believe that, before we start this procedure, we should exhaust all our chances. Negotiations in the factions should be held between deputies, and certainly negotiations should be held with the heads of the opposition factions and the Verkhovna Rada chairman," he said.
As long as this is not done, "we cannot discuss any other issues," Yanukovych said. If the Ukrainian parliament can work today, "negotiations should be held in recesses, while the work on the agenda should go on."
"I have never interfered in the Verkhovna Rada's work. But I am interested in stability of the situation in the country on the whole. Therefore, I do not want to make any preliminary conclusions now regarding the procedure of yesterday's passage of the bill on fundamentals of the state language policy," he said.
The presidential press service said taking part in the meeting with Yanukovych were deputy parliamentary speaker Adam Martyniuk, Regions Party faction leader Oleksandr Yefremov, Reform For Future parliamentary group leader Ihor Rybakov, People's Party faction leader Ihor Sharov, and Communist Party faction leader Petro Symonenko. The meeting was also attended by presidential chief of staff Serhiy Liovochkin, presidential representative at the parliament Yuriy Miroshnychenko, and National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Kliuyev.
